He attended Eton, but his marginally employed father could barely pay his way; he got a scholarship to Oxford, but was always short of cash.

The second comes naturally to members of trade unions, and to marginally employed people who can most easily be recruited into right-wing populist movements.

For most of his 20's he floundered, first as an actor in New York, later as a marginally employed assistant director of music videos in Los Angeles.

And tighter eligibility requirements have reduced government medical and food benefits available to the marginally employed.

Those seeking food, Ms. Baio said, are predominantly the unemployed and the marginally employed.

When her mother lands in the hospital with what appears to be a self-induced poisoning, Indie, a marginally employed journalist, is dragged reluctantly back toward her estranged family.

"This has much to do with the number of people who are jobless and not paying taxes or marginally employed off the books and not paying taxes," he said.

Mandatory health insurance will hurt a lot of people, especially the marginally employed.

The unemployed and the marginally employed also require a strong Labor Department.

Moreover, there were roughly 3,000 jobs for the self-employed, officials and those marginally employed.